The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1887-09-24
LIKE A GREEN 5AY-TREE,
BY JOHN STRANGE WINTER.



The people of that neighborhood said they
hourlshed like green bay-tree!
They were young, rich, of good position.
birth, appearance; they lived in a lovely old
house, the grounds of which were laid out
IN ruins, as Mrs. Hunter was so anxious to
have hers they were clever, undeniably so :;
they were both red-hot Radicals, though hus-
band and wife had alike come of staunch
Conservative families, but as Eustace Vane
was accustomed to remark, when the cireum-
stance was noticed, "We are wiser than our
fathers"
Those who remembered old Squire Vane
and the present Mrs. Vane's father, William
LOTUS, rector of Vanedene, village about
three miles west of Garthampton, were of
opinion that Eustace Vane was wrong in
saying so; but, of course, wisdom must be
more or less matter of opinion. and Eustace
Vane, like any other man in this free and
enlightened land of liberty, was able to hold
what opinions he chose upon that subject, as
upon any other.
But it was not on account of their politi-
cal opinions that the Garthampton folks
likened the Vanes, of Vanedene, to the I'M
godly, who, as the Book says, flourish like a
green bay-tree, but because, as a few out
spoken ones graphically put it, they believed
IN nothing.
They had been married more than five
years at the time when my story begins. Of
their political opinions they made no secret,
neither did they of their utter absence of re-
ligious ones. They simply had none; they
believed in nothing. hoped for nothing,
looked for nottingham was all.
To such people as attempted to argue with
them they were perfectly civil and friendly.
They said, ut is very kind of you to try and
convince us Of the truth of your religious
views, but we don't believe in a world to
come; we don't believe in the resurrection of
the dead, life after DEATH we don't believe
in heaven, or in the divine truth of the Bible,
nor yet in the story of the gospel. 1t is all
very pretty. Ii you find pleasure and COM
fort therein we have no wish to deprive you
of it. We don't want you to be of our way
of thinking; we don't wish to be unfriendly
about it. We merely wish to be left alone in
our belief, which is in this life present and
nothing else. We don't go to church because
we don't believe in God, and we are not hyp-
ocrites. We don't sit all Sunday with our
hands folded, because we believe the Sab
bath is an institution found by long expe-
rience to be necessary for the well being of
people. We have no desire to hinder you
from your way, nor to make you go ours-we
only want to be left alone.''
So, at length, left alone on religious sub
jects they were. Only one lady, having a
vivid remembrance of the dead and gone rec
tor OF Vanedene, suggested to his daughter
that it was impossible she could believe,
really believe, that she had parted with him
forever when she saw him laid in the narrow
house where we shall all lie some day.
MY father was very good man," said
Mrs. Eustace Vane quietly. HE served. his
day and generation faithfully-his good acts
will spread in ever widening circles down the
never ending ages of eternity. On his grave
stone is written: His works do follow
him."
"You have actually quoted the book you
profess to disbelieve" cried her friend.
Il acknowledge much of its wisdom" said
Mrs. Eustace Vane, with her superior smile
and after that her friend gave it up.
However, in spite of their heathenish life,
e'A~J "NAO ftAg hluSh SOuSnb d1tCl ny
Garthampton people. They were intensely
respectable. Eustace Vane would as soon
have thought of making hole in the river
Garth as of telling lie or breaking faith
with the very poorest of his tenants. They
never quarrelled with each other; their SER
wants remained with them for much longer
periods than is usual in these days of change.
and when they did leave they never accused
their master and mistress of drinking, as is
the ordinary way of servants.
True, they played tennis and waltzes on
Sunday, and went for long tramps when 9TH
er people were at church, Laura in a cotton
gown, with basket for mushrooms or wild
flowers, as the season and chance might be !;
Eustace in knickerbocker suit and straw hat
But they were young and agreeable, so Gar
Hampton folks made virtue of shutting
their eyes to the one proceeding and their
ears to the other; and if, among themselves,
they sometimes talked in shocking whispers,
why, the Vanes never heard them, and if
they had done so would have said I'VE are
wiser than our fathers"
Such persons are not novelty; they are
not entirely an outcome of this scientific age
Did not the wisest of kings write, 'Seest thou
man wise in his own conceit, there is more
hope of fool than of him." AS for the
Vanes, they were truly wise in their own
conceit, and continued so, going in largely
for the higher education of women entering
with jealous fervor into every scheme that
cropped up for the furtherance of science
or art. Mrs. Eustace-as she was still
frequently called, though her husbands
mother had been dead some time-was an
skill, and woman altogether of so strong
grasp of mind that many people wondered
how it had come about that her spiritual be-
lief was so lamentably wrong.
She went in for everything in the woman's
rights way-in spite Of her not being herself
mans Left" she made speeches at cleo
tions in favor of Liberal candidates, very
fair speeches, too, for woman, who as a
rule cannot be said to shine in that branch of
display. She went heart and soul into GER
tain social questions which most men would
rather have their wives leave alone. She
read every book of note that came out, not
meaning novels. Then, too, she dressed her
self like an old picture, and her collection of
antique fiOluS anu pOtS was something aDSO-
lutely wonderful. OF the pair she had the
stronger mind. Eustace Vane repeated all
his wife's remarks and theories with good
deal of shaw, haw." which gave them the
air Of being his own. He looked handsome,
and that was about all.
For five years this state Of things had con-
tinued. There we're supplemented folk in
the neighborhood who wondered with look
askance, why the Almighty did not send a
judgment down upon them, crushing Vane-
dene and its occupants with one blow; for
getting that the day Of miracles is over, and
that God moves in mysterious way. And
there were other simple folk, to whom
troubles came thick and fast, who felt them
selves aggrieved that life went so smoothly
for the owners of Vanedene. What was the
good, they asked, Of being faithful and be-
lieving, if the green bay-tree-otherwise the
Vanes-was permitted to flourish under their
very eyes? 1t was enough to dishearten
anyone.
But after awhile there came a change! 1t
crept upon that portion of the world which
called the Vanes friends very gradually
Mrs Vane's name was withdrawn from
prominence in several of the societies to
which she acted as president secretary one